As Israel and Hamas continue to battle in the Gaza strip, CNN released a stunning interview with Mosab Hassan Yousef, 36, a former Hamas and son of Hamas founder Hassan Yousef.

His father, a powerful Sheik living in the West Bank, helped start the terrorist organization in 1987. But Mosab not only left Hamas, he also left the Muslim faith and became a Christian.

The conflict started a few weeks ago when the terrorist group Hamas, that now controls Gaza, unleashed an unrelenting barrage of missiles on Israel. A key part of Hamas’ defense strategy includes hiding its forces within civilian populations hoping civilian deaths would turn public opinion against Israel.

But the media, which is traditionally anti Israel, is starting to see Hamas for what it really is — a brutally violent, terrorist organization. In the CNN interview, Mosab said:

“Hamas does not care about the lives of Palestinians. [They don’t] care about the lives of Israelis or Americans. They don’t care about their own lives. They consider dying for the sake of their ideology a way of worship.”

“Hamas is not seeking coexistence and compromise. Hamas is seeking conquest and taking over. And, by the way, the destruction of the State of Israel is not Hamas’s final destination. [Their] final destination is building the Islamic caliphate, which means an Islamic state under the rubble of every other civilization.”

“In the mosques, Hamas taught us that without shedding innocent blood for the sake of the ideology, we wouldn’t be able to build an Islamic state. They were preparing us from the age as young as five years old. This is the ideology that Hamas was feeding us.

“And honestly, it’s impossible almost for anybody to break through and see the truth and real face of Hamas and be able to leave at some point. As you see in my case, I had to lose everything just to say ‘no’ to Hamas.

“And today, when I look at the children of Gaza and I know what they’re fed, I know that they have no choice.”

Mosab’s journey to Christ

Mosab’s incredible journey to Jesus Christ started at age 21 after running into a British Missionary. He began to read a Bible, but had to do it secretly so his family wouldn’t find out. During his study, Mosab was profoundly impacted by Jesus’ words to “love your enemy.”

This eventually led him to not only renounce his involvement in Hamas but as well his Muslim faith. After Mosab went public with his conversion to Christ, he was forced to leave his family and Palestine for fear of his life. He moved to the US in 2007.

He said in a 2008 interview with The Telegraph:

“Hamas, they are using civilians’ lives, they are using children, they are using the suffering of people every day to achieve their goals. And this is what I hate.”

In the interview, Mosab said his father, who is more of a moderate, believes Hamas could negotiate terms where Israel and Palestine could co-exist. But he is in the minority. While in prison, Mosab’s father was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006.

Mosab’s father was recently arrested again in June 2014 by Israeli forces after the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenage boys by the terrorists.

The extremists element of Hamas, which fully control the organization, are calling for Israel’s complete annihilation and the setting up of a Caliphate Muslim state.

Mosab said when he became a Christian, his family was deeply hurt by the decision. In addition to his parents, he has five brothers and two sisters. But his father who was in prison at the time of Mosab’s conversion sent a message of love wishing him the best.

His family is famous, not only in Lebanon, but in Muslim countries throughout the Middle East. His conversion to Christ has put a death sentence on his life.

Mosab said in The Telegraph interview:

“I’m not afraid of them, especially as I know that I’m doing the right thing, and I don’t see them as my enemies. I do think about this a lot. But what are they going to do? Are they going to kill me?

“If they want to kill me, let them do it. I’m not going to stop anyone. It’s going to be my freedom.

“My soul’s going to be free of my body, not flesh any more.”

Since his conversion, Mosab believes he needs to expose the truth about Muslim extremists. He has since wrote a book about his transformation and more recently produced a film called “The Green Prince.”